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Urban Rivers and Watersheds
On September 2005, the LA Times wrote "is the LA River the city's most prominent gutter or a river waiting to be reborn ?" On that day Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a massive public works project to clean up the river, build parks along it and restore some sections to a more natural state. 'Los Angeles River Reborn'thumb|300px|left 'Background' The Los Angeles River starts in the San Fernando Valley, in the Simi Hills and Santa Susanna Mountains and flows through Los Angeles County from Conaga Park for 51 miles to its mouth i n Long Beach. Its flows through 14 cities, countless neighborhoods and is the heart of a 871 square mile watershed. It has a diverse patterns of land use from forest or open spaces to highly urbanized users, commercial, industrial and residential users. LA River is 45 times shorter than the Mississippi, but drops 795 feet from its headwaters in the San Fernando valley to its end in Long Beach. Its is 150 feet more than the Mississippi drops in its entire 2350 miles, so LA River is short but steep. 'History' c 800 BC '- Gabrielino-Taongra tribe settled along LA River. '''1769 '- Portola Expedition found a good size full flowing river lined with lush greenery. '''1781 - Spanish colonist found El Pueblo de la Reina de los Angeles and build Zanja Madre to deliver water to the pueblo. 1781-1931 '- LA River, sole source of water for Los Angeles. '''1931 '- LA Aqueduct is completed to import water from Owens River. '1934-1938 '- Floods took 85 lives and caused $23M in property damanged, recalled of then mayor Frank Shaw. '1938-1959 '- US Army Corps of Engineers built concrete channel for the River and major tributaries and storm water drains channel rainfall into the River. '''2007 - City of LA adopts L.A River Revitalization Master Plan,http://www.lariverrmp.org/ which designs a 32 mile greenway from Conoga park through downtown LA to Vernon. 2010 - EPA declares LA River "traditional navigable waters" a designation crucial to applying Clean Water Act protections.http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/lcwa.html 'LA River' LA River is know to many as a flood control channel, a backdrop to movies and music videos.The Army Corps of Engineers paved 80% of the river creating the world's largest storm drain with its graffiti- marred banks strewn with rotting garbage and polluted with chemicals illegally dumped in storm drains and gutters that empties into it. Mainstreet-1-.jpg Headwaters-1-.jpg 6th-st-bridge-1-.jpg ImagesCA668JBS.jpg Images-1-.jpg 57397237-1-.jpg 'Revitalization Projects' LA River revitalization projects are the results of the combined efforts of City of LA, many State & Federal Agencies , Environmental Groups such as Friends of the Los Angeles River http://folar.org/, The River Project http://www.theriverproject.org/about.html and numerous communities living along the river. The Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan http://www.lariverrmp.org/ is a 20 year blue print for the development and mangement of the river, identifying proposals that would make the river the 'front door' to the city and supporting a full range of public activities. This plan is adopted by the City of LA in May 2007. The enviromental groups advocate the restoration of the river and its natural habitat, developing recreational users along and in the river and education and cleanup programs for students and the community. Some of the revitalization projects are: *'Bikeways', The LA river Bikeway will eventually run 52 miles from Canoga Park to Long Beach. See labikepaths.com http://www.labikepaths.com/ for a guide. *'Parks, '''the biggest coup for river activists is the Taylor Yard project, ''Rio de Los Angeles State Park. With over 100 acres and 2 miles of river frontage, the multi-objective state park will become the centerpiece of the LA River Greenway. There are numerous other smaller park projects along the river completed or in the planning stages such as the Cornfield Yards a 30 acre site in Chinatown. See list http://www.theriverproject.org/ourprojects.html *'LA River Expedition', public can canoe or kayak in the river. http://lariverexpeditions.org/page_about.php The U.S ArmyCorps of Engineers would not normally allow such activities due to safety and water quality issues. However with the new designation of LA River by EPA, there is a legal gray area. *'Street Art', graffiti may be vandalism to some and art to others, the concrete banks of LA River provides a great canvas for displaying street art. The City of LA for a while open up 10,000 sq.ft of concrete area for graffiti artist before overturning the decision. *'Education', numerous programs organizied by enviromental groups for students such as LA River Teacher Resource Guide, River School Day, Guided River Tours and in class presentation. KCET has a series called explore the unexpected.http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/lariver/ Bikeway-1-.jpg Riodelosangelesopen20070421rg 73-2-.jpg ImagesCAWKPA4N.jpg ImagesCAJ1VFFK.jpg Images-7-.jpg Images.jpg 0401082047 M river2.jpg IMG 2482-1-.jpg Adopted-1-.jpg The most important 'project' for LA River is when the U.S Environmental Protection Agency declared LA River to be "traditional navigable river" on July 8th 2010. This designation is crucial to applying Clean Water Act http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/lcwa.html protections throught out its 834 square miles urban watershed. The EPA representative said that " We are moving away from concrete, we want the LA River to demonstrate how urban waterways across the country can serve as assets in building stronger neighborhoods, attracting new businesses and creating new jobs." From that day onwards flood control is one of the many characteristic of LA River. On August 1st environmental activist George Wolfe organized a kayak expedition down LA River, the trip to be a floating expose of what the river has become and its potential as a recreational area and nature preserve, under the auspices of the River Project. Me-river5 l615p4nc-1-.jpg Me-river2 l615jtnc-1-.jpg ImagesCAG3TJNZ.jpg River Network, a national watershed protection movement has an amazing resource about the Clean Water Act, its application and different issues that you can fight with Clean Water Act http://www.rivernetwork.org/introduction-cwa-course 'Importance of Rivers in Communities' Urban rivers today face many challenges althought there are many opportunities available. A river that is a concrete channel, hidden under freeways and behind factories can someday be a beautiful ribbon of green connecting communities from the mountains to the sea. A beautiful but threatened river could with good management protect the river and its resources and be a model for the future. Some of the challenges and solutions are Challenges *''Flooding'', in developed areas a major problem in wet years for downstream communities. River become overburden with increased runoff from paved or impervious surfaces. *''Pollution'', mainly comes from urban runoff, from trash, pesticides,oil, animal waste and fertilizers amongst others. *''Drought'', long periods of drought are common in our area leading to water imports and rationing. *''Shortage of parks and open space'', LA has 1 acre of open space per 1,000 resident as compared to a national standard of 4. In poor and industrial communities the nearest park may be miles away. *''Habitat for animals and birds'', native plants and animals in our ecosystem has lost much of their habitat, some species are endangered or threatened with extinction. *''Air pollution'', LA is smog city, increased hardscape increases air pollution and a major contributor to global warming. *''Ugly river'', a river encased in concrete is a strom drain. Not many people know that LA has a river that rans through it. *''Disconnected communities'', LA the home of a diversed group of people, from all races but separated and isolated by auto dependency. *''Cost of water'', LA imports 85% of is water, spending over $1 billion a year. *''Bad relations with the rest of the West'', as communities everywhere is growing many accused LA of taking more than its fair share of water. Some of that water is needed for restoration to undo the environmental damage done by extracting too much water from other watersheds. Solutions *''Protected waterways'', keeping a natural buffer zone around rivers provides a safe place for overflows during floods. Bio engineered banks provides structural integrity while maintaining habitats for plants and animals and improves water quality. *''stormwater retention systems'', porous paving and retention basin, increasing pervious surfaces and utilizing retention systems can help us save more rainfall, keep off polluted runoff and reduce strains on river and flooding risk. In dry season retention system can be used as pocket parks. *''Parks and open spaces'', detained water and absorded as groundwater. Properly planned and spaced, parks can collect rainwater during wet season. *''Native plants'', can cope with long dry summers and wet winters and uses less irrigation. Native plants provide food and shelter to native wildlife. *''More trees'', can stabilized riverbanks, filter out water pollution and slow flow of flood waters. Trees clean air, reduce heat island effects and provide habitat to wildlife. *''Bikeways'', are prefect along river banks providing continuous access and connection to many communities.A great recreation activity while easing traffic and air pollution. *''Marshes and wetlands'', are buffer zone absorbing excess water during floods. They are also nature filteration system and provide habitat for native birds and animals. *''Using local water'', capturing, storing and restoring our groundwater will enable us to use water we already have and decreased our dependence on imported water. *''Water recycling'', reduces the need of imported water and less water being sent to our overburdened river. *''Concrete out of channelized rivers'', when enough rainwater can be captured onsite, flooding risks can be lowered. Concrete bottoms and side can be then replaced with bio engineered banks where water quality will improved, increase habitat for birds and animals and provide recreational areas to the community. * * 'Summary' Our rivers are an incredible resource. In a dense urban environment, this resource has many problems such as pollution, crowding, flooding, drought. Revitalized rivers can improved water quality, provide green spaces in poor-park communities, improved flood protection and reduce our dependence on imported water. Single-purpose approach to solving problems, addressing them one at a time such as building dams, leeves, stormdrains has a serious flaw as in nature, everything is connected to everything else. The solution to one problem creates a problem of its own. Many cities today are taking a more comprehensive approach, incorporating multiple objectives: ecological integrity, economic vitality and a sense of community. These cities are proving that an ecologically healthy river is the centerpiece of a successful and sustainable riverfront revitalization. Cities like the Bronx http://www.bronxriver.org/ , Chicago http://www.chicagoriver.org/home/index.php and Denver http://www.spreeweb.org/ to name a few has adopted this approach. San Antonio Riverwalk http://www.visitsanantonio.com/visitors/play/the-river-walk/index.aspx while is an economic and historical success fails to address in any significant way the needs of the river ecosystem. It is but a concrete channel. Mayor Villaraigosa visited South Korea to sudy their river restoration project, the Cheonggyecheon.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheonggyecheon Watershed management is a way of working with nature rather than against it. An intergrated approach, focusing on multiple benefits rather than single purpose solution will balance socioeconomic and environmental impacts. Sustainability and working with nature is paramount as "nature always bat last in any contest". the River Project. '''"And We send down water from the sky according to (due) measure, and We cause it to soak in the soil; and We certainly are able to drain it off (with ease)." '''Quran 23:18, a reminder in the Quran to respect and protect water and its sources. All faith traditions calls us to be intentional stewards of the enviroment. La-river-stilts-1-.jpg ImagesCAOLC9UB.jpg ImagesCA5YH8WN.jpg Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_River The Los Angeles River Revitalizaton Master Plan http://www.lariverrmp.org/ Friends of the Los Angeles River http://folar.org/ City of LA Los Angeles River Revitalization http://councilcommittee.lacity.org/lariver/ Claen Water Act http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/lcwa.html Category:urban rivers Category:LA River Category: sustainability Category:watershed